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Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine

Dr. Czaja utilizes technology to facilitate the performance of older workers, to assist dementia caregivers, to enable older adults to use e-health apps and the Internet, and to support memory and social connectivity.

Dr. Mehta’s work in the city of Pune, which is a hub for academic excellence in India, will involve implementing geriatric palliative care education for interdisciplinary providers across various healthcare settings.

Rooted in a long tradition of championing the rights of older patients, the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine has remained at the forefront of medical and social advances for more than 20 years.

Medical students are afforded the opportunity of talking with seniors about all aspects of their lives, from physical and psychological challenges, to social activities and interpersonal relationships.

Challenging widespread clinical practice and accepted treatment guidelines, Dr. Holly Prigerson has published a paper in JAMA Oncology that puts the value of chemotherapy for end-of-life patients with cancer into question. Among several findings, it was found that patients who were ambulatory (able to do light work) and receiving chemotherapy at study entry, had significantly lower quality of life at the end of their lives compared to those who were not receiving chemotherapy.

Dr. Janey Peterson was recently awarded the prestigious Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in Aging Research from the National Institute on Aging and the American Federation for Aging. The award is a four-year grant in the amount of $720,596 and will further the development of a physical activity intervention for older adults with multiple high-risk chronic diseases.

On October 11, 2012, Dr. Mark Lachs testified in Washington, D.C., providing recommendations to the Elder Justice Coordinating Council on HIPAA and IRB issues related to the investigation of elder abuse. He described the challenges faced by elder abuse researchers under HIPAA and IRB guidelines.

Is there something that older people know that the young don't about how to live? To answer that question, Karl Pillemer, Professor of Gerontology in Medicine and the Hazel E. Reed Human Ecology Professor at Cornell-Ithaca created the Legacy Project, in which he surveyed more than 1,200 of the oldest Americans to seek their advice for living better, happier lives.